Media Matters Antisemitism Didn't End with Rosenberg

Back on April 6th, notorious anti-Israel Foreign Policy senior fellow MJ Rosenberg left Media Matters for America because his “Israel firster” language was provoking heat from all ends of the political spectrum.

Let’s be clear, though. He didn’t leave because Media Matters wanted him out or disagreed with his position that some Jewish people in the US, mainly represented by the group AIPAC, held dual loyalties at best. No, he left because he, not Media Matters, thought it would be best for him to move on.

The reason for this step is that it disturbed me greatly to see an organization to which I am devoted facing possible harm because of my critical writings about Israel. I have no doubt that the crowd that opposes any and all criticism of Israeli government policies will continue to turn its guns on Media Matters if I am associated with it.

He wasn’t fired. He left because the vast right-wing conspiracy–with notable members like über-liberal Alan Dershowitz–was zeroing in on poor little Media Matters. The big meanies.

My presence here is being used in an effort to shut Media Matters up. That won’t happen, of course. This is an incredibly successful organization. (Just ask Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh — or Rupert Murdoch, for that matter — about its impact). But the last thing I want to do is allow the right to use my support for a reinvigorated Middle East peace process to distract Media Matters from its primary mission: fighting for truth in the media.

One thing you can never accuse smear merchants of being is self-aware. First, no one is trying to “shut Media Matters up.” At worst, they want Media Matters to survive without the wrongfully tax-exempt donations they’re getting.

Secondly, Media Matters’ entire reason for existing is to shut conservatives in the media up. Literally. See–by MMfA’s own boasting–Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Rupert Murdoch. It’s staggering to think of how many people read that paragraph and didn’t collapse from the overwhelming cognitive dissonance. But I digress.

In his debut post at his new website, MJ revealed more about his time at Media Matters.

But Media Matters never told me not to use the term. In fact, Media Matters never censored me in any way, shape or form.

You hear that, liberal 1%ers who were thinking of cutting that donation check to Media Matters but were not happy with Rosenberg’s anti-Israel rhetoric? Media Matters never censored him in any way, shape or form, and they never told him not to use the term “Israel firster.” They endorsed it. They promoted it. And they would still be doing it to this day if MJ had never left.

Oh, wait. They still are.

Meet Walid Zafar (pictured above). He came out of the gate attacking the Chair of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, for canceling an appearance with a person who was on the federal terrorist watch list. And, according to the Washington Free Beacon, MJ Rosenberg loved Zafar’s criticism of Wasserman-Schultz and forwarded it to his followers on Twitter. Chip off the ol’ block, apparently.

The article goes on to explain that Gates “contradicted recently released U.S. reports citing military and intelligence officials who question whether Iran has decided to pursue a nuclear-weapons capability,” quoting him saying that he has “long been convinced that Iran is determined to develop nuclear-weapons capability.” But Gates’s words do not necessarily contradict intelligence assessments. As Gates’s successor, Leon Panetta, as well as Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have both said that Iran has not made the decision to build a nuclear weapon, though the country is considered to have a break-out capability.

As with many pro-Iran–darn it, I keep saying that when I mean to say “people who really think Iran only wants to go half-nuclear”–pundits, they hate Israel and are willing to allow Iran to develop nuclear technology to the point of being able to create a bomb without actually creating a bomb. And, of course, we know the stable, theocratic regime that has said Israel should be wiped off the face of the map can be trusted to not take the next step.

There are other example of Zafar playing defense for Iran and, by extension, calling the “Israel Lobby” liars here and here. In some ways he’s more clever than Rosenberg, attacking reality by trying to find nuggets of doubt about the intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program. It’s all an effort to create enough doubt to buy Iran time.

Again, the point here is that Media Matters is still in the anti-Semitism business. It didn’t end with Rosenberg.

Couple this with the fact that Media Matters filed for tax-exempt status under the premise that they were going to combat “Christian influence” in the media, and you see where their loyalties lie. They attack Jews and Christians, and spend an awful lot of their “intellectual” resources on defending the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has openly stated Israel shouldn’t exist.

There is literally no way they could be more more anti-Israel. It is plain as day.

There’s another interesting aspect to the story of MJ Rosenberg. A few days ago, a reader sent us a screencap after signing up for Rosenberg’s email newsletter. In compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, anyone sending email newsletters has to provide a valid physical address. When the reader went through the process, the address of Foreign Policy Matters–the arm of Media Matters Rosenberg worked for–was listed:

I went to replicate the process and the address had changed to a PO Box.

At some point after April 6th, when Rosenberg announced he was leaving Media Matters and when the screencap above was taken, Rosenberg was either still working for Media Matters or in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act. Probably just an oversight, but Media Matters isn’t known for giving people the benefit of the doubt, so we won’t let it slide either.